Everyone loves a parade, right? The Rose Parade on New Year's Day in Pasadena. Any parade on the Fourth of July. The Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving Day in New York.

But the All-Star Game Red Carpet Parade on Tuesday in New York?

I know, you're not sure how interesting that sounds, even with every living Hall of Famer invited to participate. But Fox is devoting an hour of almost prime-time coverage to the event, which immediately precedes the network's telecast of the 79th All-Star Game.

Reminded that West Coast fans will be working, or driving on jam-packed freeways, at that hour, Goren was undaunted.

“Take the day off,” Goren said. “It's worth it.”

That's debatable, of course, but this is not: Fox and MLB are pushing the nostalgia angle for the All-Star Game, which, as you might have heard, will be the final one played at Yankee Stadium.

“You will get a feel from the very first seconds (of the telecast) of Yankee Stadium and the history there,” Goren said.

“That's the other major player in this,” said Joe Buck, who will call the game with Tim McCarver. “To consider all that's gone on there and what the stadium has meant to this country . . . all the different events that have come through.”

The parade actually will be held earlier in the day in midtown Manhattan, after which the participants – including all eight Hall of Famers with Padres ties – will head to the Bronx for pregame introductions starting at 5 p.m. The game will start sometime after 5:30, by which point many of you who don't have the ability to take a vacation day might be home and able to watch, you know, the game.

Fox promises not to ignore that part of the evening.

“It's a tough balancing act,” Buck said. “You want to give everybody their just due as far as their story, why are they in this game. Now you're balancing that against everything else. It's a tough one, but it's fun and it's great.”

The annual Home Run Derby is at 5 p.m. Monday on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Radio 800. It could have been special for San Diegans had Adrian Gonzalez been asked to compete, but someone at Bud Selig-run MLB decided Milwaukee's Ryan Braun would be a better choice. Wonder how they came up with that one.

Flipping channels

The first golf major in nearly 12 years without Tiger Woods comes up next week with the British Open. TNT has first-round coverage Thursday, live at 4 a.m. PDT if you have TNT HD, but delayed until 7 a.m. if you watch TNT in standard definition.

Evidently trying to set a record for the most crowded stage since “Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In,” NBC hired Dan Patrick as a co-host for its “Football Night in America” studio show. Patrick will be reunited with his former partner on ESPN's “The Big Show,” Keith Olbermann, who also serves as co-host, as does Cris Collinsworth. So that's three co-hosts to go along with Bob Costas, whose title is simply “host.” And we haven't gotten to reporter Peter King and analysts Jerome Bettis and Tiki Barber. All for a 75-minute show (including commercials). Here's an idea: less talk and more highlights.

Costas is on HBO at 9 p.m. Wednesday with another edition of “Costas Now.” Baseball, past and present, is the topic, although the highlight figures to be a roundtable with Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson.

ESPN will keep Antonio Cromartie busy Monday when the Chargers' All-Pro cornerback visits the network's Bristol, Conn., headquarters. Starting with ESPN2's “First Take” at 7:30 a.m. PDT, Cromartie will make seven separate appearances – three on ESPN Radio, two on ESPNews, one on ESPN, one on ESPN2 – plus an ESPN.com chat (9:30 a.m.).

Del Mar's races again will be available on TVG, which is just great for all the Time Warner Digital Cable subscribers who have access only to HRTV. TVG is offered on Cox Digital Cable, DirecTV and Dish Network.

Back to baseball

With Matt Vasgersian working Phillies-Diamondbacks for Fox tomorrow, Steve Quis will call Padres-Braves this weekend with Tony Gwynn on Channel 4 San Diego. At least Vasgersian made like George Costanza this week, going out on a high note with one of the great look-alike calls of all time: Umpire “Country” Joe West and Big Al from Disney World's Country Bear Jamboree. If you think I'm kidding, go to YouTube and check out Big Al.

Great work as well this week by Channel 4 producer Ed Barnes and production assistant Matt Griffin, unearthing video of the Marlins selecting “Trevor W. Hoffman,” as he was listed, with the fourth pick of the 1993 expansion draft.

Speaking of Channel 4, it's been nice to hear reporter Jenny Cavnar getting some air time recently on XTRA Sports 1360, if for no other reason than to show you don't have to be a white male to do sports talk radio in this town. The experience will help Cavnar, and hopefully she – and anyone else qualified – will continue to get opportunities.

We've all heard of New Year's resolutions. It's time for all local media members to take an All-Star break resolution: no more references to the Padres having any chance of contending in the NL West this season. It's not happening. The only race about which anyone should be talking is the one for SDSU's Stephen Strasburg, next year's potential No. 1 draft pick.